samedi 14 décembre 2013

Test - ifi Audio Gemini Cable

I am not used to write quick
reviews but sometimes product deserves it!

You might know
about the English manufacturer ifi Audio, the spin off from AMR. Their
engineering is pretty good with electronics and is now concentrating on
accessories. Nowadays it is still possible to enhance a middle range class as products
are getting more and more efficient? Manufacturers are delivering state of the
art setups with top performance chipsets such as TI 1795 or Sabre ESS4399. Optimization
becomes a headache and comes back to its roots: power supply and cables. AMR
has understood the needs and as such an article cannot be sold for thousands of
bucks, it was clever to separate this activity to target at the right market.
Ifi Audio has the right answer for much situation where the end user gets a
nice performing converter but a very harsh and noisy computer power supply
setup. In many situations, the iUSBPower I have reviewed a few months ago is
able to provide a good answer and offer a cleaner music to our ears.

As all the others, they are also
providing with a range of USB cables. We all know about the importance of the
USB cables in the transportation of the audio date regarding timing and quality
of squared waves. The ideal cable is able to both separate power supply
transport pair from the data pairs. It is also using shielding and insulation
that correctly isolate data transportation from electromagnetic interferences.

With Gemini Cable, ifi Audio
intends to answer to both of these constraints. The power supply is transported
in a fully separated cable from the data. The small clips which are ceramic
based are both separating cable at a fixed distance to avoid interferences, but
also play a role as EMI filter because of their nature. Terminated with shielded
aluminum plugs, all conditions are maximized to fight against external
interaction.

We
should note that because of its specific construction, it must be used with the
iUBBPower supply.

I have carefully tested and used
the cable for months with a lot of setups as I review a lot for French written
press. My feeling regarding this cable is that, it is unfortunately not
possible to use if with a standard setup. One must have the iUSBPower accessory
to use it. The cable is a bit hard to setup as it is not as flexible as a
regular one with the 3 small clips. The construction is therefore very good and
there was no problem with it even if I mistreated it a few times with test!

To evaluate it, I compared it with
a regular cable within the same price range from Wireworld (“Red” Starlight)
and Supra USB. Wireworld starlight cables are a bit projecting medium, but tend
to be neutral on high frequencies, even if they do not extend to infinite.
Supra gets more linear, but do not extend as far as Wireworld in frequencies,
they are also having a very nice medium tones and provides with rich harmonies
in this area.

Gemini cable performed better than
the others. Gemini demonstrated a more linear bandwidth with no projection sensation.
Tonal output was in respect with the source characteristics (e.g. application
on computer). Instruments neither appear too rich in color, neither lacking of body.
Nevertheless, the bandwidth and the richness of micro-information were not as
good as with next range of cables. This is therefore not a real revolution as I
still think that 600€ cables are really having a step ahead when it comes to
think at coupling a high end equipment.

In my opinion this
is a good idea to purchase such a cable if you own an iUSBPower as for the
price it will perform much better than a standard USB cable and also better
than a standard good cable in its price range.